"I'm already ahead of them" - Felix Gall thinks Thymen Arensman and Jai Hindley are racing each-other in Giro podium battle
Cycling
Felix Gall finds himself neither here nor there in the Giro d'Italia general classification battle - at least that's how the Decathlon CMA CGM rider has hinted he sees it. The Austrian sits in second place, a massive 4:03 behind leader Jonas Vingegaard and with a 57 seconds cushion keeping him on the podium.
And it's the battle for podium where Gall finds himself slightly drawn into. He's 24 seconds clear of Thymen Arensman in third, with the Dutchman looking over his shoulder at Jai Hindley 33 seconds further in fourth. The Netcompany Ineos and Red Bull - BORA Hansgrohe riders are fancied to attack each-other on Friday's brutal stage 19.
Gall thinks the stage will come down to fatigue with a brutal finish to Alleghe featuring a 5 kilometer climb at gradients just under 10 percent. Gall has been consistently clear of the rest of the field in chase of Vingegaard in almost every mountain stage of the corsa rosa, and hopes to have the same legs come Friday afternoon.
"The finish is not super long, but it's a very steep climb," Gall said in a pre-stage interview. "With the fatigue that we're going to accumulate throughout the day, I think we're gonna see quite some gaps."
Gall hopes to retain position as second best
"I hope I have the same legs as I have the last two and a half weeks. I'm feeling good and it's a day where we have to be focused all day long. We've seen in the past that the GC has been shaken up in the last days of the Giro."
Asked what way he and other leaders will ride, the Austrian believes that it's not tactics but the stage's sheer difficulty that will define the day's placings.
He added: "I think we are going to be rather defensive. The parcours is so hard, I think it's going to take care of itself. It's going to sort itself out basically."
Arensman and Hindley "racing each-other"
When it comes to Arensman and Hindley, Gall believes that they are looking at each-other when it comes to the standings and believes he enjoys the bonus of being ahead of the pair in the podium race.
He highlighted Netcompany Ineos rider Egan Bernal as decisive in their dual: "They're both great racers. Thymen [Arensman] has [Egan] Bernal as a really good helper and support on the climb."
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He concluded: "I think they're both equally a threat. They are racing for the podium, so they're racing each-other. Of course I'm also racing them, I'm already ahead of them, so I have a little bonus there.
Gavin QuinnCycling Journalist
Gavin Quinn is a cycling journalist and ultra-distance cyclist with a BA in Journalism from Dublin City University. Formerly the Press & Communications Officer for Cycling Ireland, Gavin has worked inside the national team at the World Championships and has reported for the Irish Mirror, Mirror UK, and The42.
His expertise is backed by elite-level access, having interviewed stars like Sam Bennett and Ben Healy, as well as immense personal endurance. In 2025, he completed a 12,000km solo cycle from Ireland to Vietnam, following a 4,600km tour across Europe. From the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix to the gradients of the Tourmalet, Gavin’s writing focuses on the "romance and brutality" of the sport. Having visited 50+ countries, he brings a global, cultural perspective to his coverage of the pro peloton for CyclingUpToDate.
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- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Good boy Obviously doesn’t need that much help dealing with pressure, as some have suggested. Wiser (and humbler) than many far further along their careers. About offering him the moon, recently someone came up with an explanation of the downfall of a football great (either referring to Maradona or Portuguese Ronaldo) saying it was kind of normal after coming back from the moon, except that others, including some who actually did go to the moon like Armstrong (Neil in case anyone is too switched off to realise) didn’t go through any of the same motions after coming back. A lot of how you deal with situations has less to do with the situation than with your character.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- I think that they're not really used to dealing with this type of incident in a cyclocross race, and the situation has been magnified because it was a race for a championship title. It's very unfortunate that the race had to be decided in this way.
santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
- So all those who went to watch, including all from abroad, waled there, spent nothing? Most places hosting events of the sort manage to make it worthwhile. If it was so obviously fruitless, don’t you think by now they’d have run out of hosting candidates? Why do you think the Tour can command such high prices for departure and arrival locations? If it didn’t bring anything locally they’d have to pay to get authorisation to use cities.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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